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bullstuff

Quoting:
contract workers must take a half-year break for each year and a half spent at Microsoft. The action is being taken to protect "Microsoft IP and confidential information," according to the company.

Liar pants on fire-- it's the same old perma-temp dodge, so they don't have to hire them.

Well, at least the new CEO has his priorities in place,... $$$,... and LEAN to boot... It looks like ol' MS is gearing up for the long fight (to stay alive). Good for them. They'll need all the strategies they can come up with.

Of course they do! If they can. It's precisely the reason why contract workers exist. It's a method to control fluctuating labor requirements all companies face. It's jes that contract workers --"temps"-- are typically somewhat educated and skilled, as opposed to illegal labor, which is merely grunt labor.

I was more often than not, a temp in the 25 yrs I worked in hi-tech and in Silicon Valley (SV). The abuses were many. The stories I could tell. OTOH, temps typically make more $$$$ while receiving almost zero bennies. Some workers actually prefer being employed as temps. But, the company usually has little to say. It's state and federal laws which determines how temps are treated, not the individual companies. So, how Gobble vs how Crapple treats a temp is a non-issue. They all draft from the same pool and are all governed by the same laws. If anyone is going to screw over a temp, it's usually the the temp company doing the reaming.

Bottom line, they cost the corporations less than perm hires and any changes in the temp laws must come from the govt. OTOH, that doesn't mean the companies, usually as a whole, can't influence the pols that make the laws. I've experienced that song and dance, too.

When they tell you to go away after 18 months and take a six-month break, you're not a temp. You're someone who should be on payroll, and they're just playing games. The tech industry has all but gutted state labor laws in Oregon and Washington, and done away with overtime pay, and weakened temp worker classifications into uselessness. Most temp workers are not H-1B workers-- they're locals.

OK, I'm rather ignorant on this topic -- but is it possible that this will actually turn out to be counter-productive?

Doesn't this make these jobs less attractive to prospective contract employees, and reduce their motivation to work hard and "keep their noses clean"/"keep their heads down" during their employment, as they'll definitely, absolutely be out of a job regardless, when the current contract expires... etc?

> When they tell you to go away after 18 months and take a six-month break, you're not a temp. You're someone who should be on payroll,

Jes "18 mos"!? I've been a temp for 2 yrs for a private corp and 3 yrs for a govt lab. CA finally sed 12 mos max, but if the corp doesn't tell you and you don't know..... Even after the change of state law, many temps were employed longer than 12 mos simply because the worker was not savvy.

Ignorance of the law is the corp's and the temp agency's friend. I once discovered I was being screwed outta $0.37 per/hr. Six hundred dollars had accrued before I learned the facts. The govt lab hiring dept sed, "not our problem". The Federal Labor Relations Board sed, "It's jes an administrative infraction". IOW, zero law allowing me to recoup the missing $$. I tried to tell other temps. "I don't want to know" was the universal response.

I don't know how bad it's become in WA and OR, but I can imagine, What you describe is not only SOP, but not even remotely surprising. ;)

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